Personal Collecting History

[Mutton Chop Yaz]

Late last year, I checked back in to see what was happening in the card world and was shocked. I'd long considered expanding my collection to include a small group of the most consequential players who played both pre- and post-war, integrated baseball, and emerged as stars from the immediate post-integration and westward expansion era, but I thought I would be able to do that down the road at a leisurely pace. Not so! Cards that I thought I could find any time for $125 were suddenly $500 or more. Jackie Robinsons and Satchel Paiges were quickly becoming unaffordable. Star cards from the 1950s were now going to have to be star cards from the 1960s.

I recognized that it might be a bubble. I also recognized that premier cards have tended to hold or increase in value over the long term, and my intention was for my cards to be permanent parts of my collection. So, I thought about whose cards I wanted and what qualities were important to me, investigated card issues I hadn't considered before, made a plan, scoured the listings, and overpaid for everything. Some of my constraints (e.g., an attractive design and image, good centering, and an absence of prominently featured racial caricatures, if possible) made my search a little trickier than I'd anticipated, but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

[Mutton Chop Yaz]

Pre- and post-war stars:

[Mutton Chop Yaz]

Early integrators:

[Mutton Chop Yaz]

Post-integration/expansion stars:

[Mutton Chop Yaz]

Other than returning to my Diamond Stars set, I'm not certain where this leaves me. My collection feels satisfyingly complete. Modern cards don't appeal to me. They seem complicated and expensive, and watching players in real time through the eyes of an adult somehow diminishes the fun of collecting them for me. They're professionals doing something tangible, working hard to find miniscule advantages, not myths who towered over their contemporaries and whose feats can't be replicated. It's just not the same without the patina of history and a child's frame of reference.

I also don't plan to look beyond the titans already in my collection or seek out more or "better" versions of their cards. One nice example is enough. Maybe I'll change my tune. Maybe I won't be able to resist the call of the hunt. Maybe I'll decide I need a Lou Gehrig or a Cy Young or a Cap Anson. Maybe prices will crash and I'll be able to add or replace cards for practically nothing. Maybe my circumstances will change and I'll have to sell them. Maybe they'll become so valuable that it would be silly not to.

I do know this: as long as I have a collection, this card will be in it. I have it because I used to go to the same barbershop as Mr. Colavito. If you were a boy who liked baseball and left a card with the barber, Mr. Colavito would sign it. It has value only to me, and it's one of the only mementos of my youth that has followed me through the decades. Dinged corners, airbrushed hat, and Chief Wahoo aside, I can't imagine letting it go.

Cheers, and happy collecting.

[hcv123]

Great story!

[71buc]

Great post and thanks for sharing. Your comment pasted below sums up my feelings about modern and pre-war cards perfectly.

“ Modern cards don't appeal to me. They seem complicated and expensive, and watching players in real time through the eyes of an adult somehow diminishes the fun of collecting them for me. They're professionals doing something tangible, working hard to find miniscule advantages, not myths who towered over their contemporaries and whose feats can't be replicated. It's just not the same without the patina of history and a child's frame of reference.”

I dabbled in pre-war but lacked the emotional ties and commitment to players of that era. My father collected from 1948-1959 and if his memory is correct it was an epic collection. Unfortunately it was reduced to little small bundles of kindling by his family while he was serving in the military. He always shared stories of his days collecting and watching his heros. He fell in love with baseball during the 1950s and loved the Indians and Pirates of that era. He spoke of seeing, Mays, Musial, DiMaggio, Paige, Robinson, Mantle, Doby, Feller, Kiner, and Williams. Inspired by those stories I started collecting in the early 1970s as a seven year old. I collected cards of the players he lost and the players of the 1960s and 1970 I watched. He bought me boxes of wax packs every year until I graduated High School. Then he started buying me cards he remembered having in his childhood collection. Despite the occasional hiatus I still chase cards and fortunately my collection was spared from the fireplace when I went to college. He is 80 now and still buys me a card for each birthday and Christmas.